Popularity of Soccer in the United States

Introduction

Football is a sport that requires tremendous skill, endurance, and strategy. Americans have always appreciated these qualities in their sports. In recent years, the popularity of the game called soccer has grown and gained huge popularity in United States. Until over the recent past, U.S football was more of a regional activity rather than a national or global phenomenon. Most Americans had little interest in soccer and thus did not bother much to be involved or to be stakeholders within it. However, with the introduction of television, along with many other factors, the number of viewers interested in soccer increased eventually leading to the formation of leagues and national clubs competing both locally and at global platform. The game is gaining more and more popularity as time passes (Britannica, pp. 180-191). Currently, there are 17 teams in the Major League Soccer (the latest being Vancouver), in comparison to 2004 when there were only 2 teams. The numbers of players belonging to high school level have doubled since 1990 and, are about 750,000 in total. The figure for the youth players now stands at 4 million children.

Thesis Statement

The popularity of soccer in the United States is due to the extensive media coverage, large contingent of Hispanic immigrants, and the changing priorities of the society.

Discussion

Background

Sport has been a part of American society for many years, whether we look at the creation of sports such as American football, or the popularity of boxing between immigrants in the late 19th century. However, the world's most popular sport has never been well received in the States. As a British sport, football (or soccer, as it is better known in the US) arrived to America in the 1800s, where the Americans adopted the game, particularly in the Universities. The game was played between universities, using the English Football Association rules. However, with the arrival of rugby to the United States, both rugby and football merged together, which was to form the basis of American Football. However, soccer failed to capture the imagination of the American public, whilst American sports were gaining more and more popularity. Soccer was seen more as a recreational activity or a college sport, whilst sports such as American Football were seen as the important competitive sports.

Throughout most of the 20th century, soccer remained a minor sport in the United States, even though a professional soccer league was established in 1921, well before a professional American Football league. Although there was a professional league, and the national team played in the first two World Cups in the 1930s, the sport was not a part of the traditional American sports, with basketball and American football dominating high school sports programs. American commentators have argued that the style of the game, with its low scoring nature and offside rules has dissuaded the American public, who are more accustomed to a basketball score of 89-84 rather than a 1-0 victory. Also, the fact that whilst soccer has working class roots in ...